Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Fine, fine.” She waved her hand around her head, pushing up from the chair and grabbing her bag while she was at it. She leaned her elbow onto my counter, her eyes coming to mine. They were the kind of blue you saw on everyone, but she batted them around like she was the only one who had them. Truth was, I fucking hated my manager, but again, she was good at her job. “Promise you will tell me every step you take?”
I flicked the lid of the Zippo up and brought the joint to my lips. “Sure.”
It wasn’t until the door slammed closed that I looked up at Nathan, my bodyguard slash bartender.
“You know what you’re going to do to get that juice back, boss?” Nathan leaned onto the wooden counter of my bar, his muscles rippling in his arms. Dang. I really needed to hit the gym today.
“No.” I cast a distant look around my home.
Some would call it beautiful. I just thought it was empty. The windows started from the floor and reached for the ceiling, with the entire back wall marbled out to perfection. The high ceilings gave the perfect setting for the three bedrooms upstairs that were connected by a look-down stairwell that wrapped around the entire hallway and spread down over the living and kitchen area downstairs. Even the interior design was all paid for. Nothing chosen because it meant anything to me. It was all bought.
My phone started dancing on the counter, and I smirked when I saw the black crow light up my screen. I’d known Sparrow a long time, but how we met wasn’t something I liked to revisit often.
Even for me.
Swiping to answer, I brought my phone to my ear, curling my finger at the bottle of whiskey in the corner and pushing my glass toward Nathan. “Let me guess, Malyk needs bail money again?”
Sparrow chuckled through the phone, but then cleared his throat. “God, I wish it was that. I’d take some dumb shit of his over what I’m about to hit you with any day of the week.”
I leaned forward, attention piqued. Sparrow wasn’t the kind of man who beat around the bush or fucked around with small talk or mundane conversations. When he spoke, everyone listened, and if they didn’t? Well…they were about to.
“Doesn’t sound good.” Nathan slid the full glass of whiskey back over to me and I lost myself in the amber liquid before shooting it back. Hissing, I swiped my lips with my thumb. “What is it?”
“You’re not going to like this, but we’re going to have to go back to Hades Hollow.”
As soon as he said the name, my blood turned to ice. Gone was the burning power of whiskey, and in its place was the realization that I could be seeing her again.
“You’re right, I don’t, and you couldn’t make me go back there if you dressed up in hooker heels and called me Daddy. Fuck, Sparrow. What the fuck? I thought we had a deal on why we wouldn’t have to revisit. We had a plan.”
He sighed and my shoulders loosened slightly. Sparrow wasn’t raised in Hades Hollow, so it was different to him than it was to me. “And another thing.”
I held my breath.
“Malyk is coming too.”
Fucking hell. This wasn’t going to be good. “Yeah, well, it’s going to have to wait.” I flicked the bottle cap from between my fingers, leaning back in my chair. “I’ll come after I blow off some steam.”
Everyone knew what I meant when I said blow off steam. Especially Sparrow. Not that we were friends, not even Malyk and me, and the shithead and I had at least some things in common, but we weren’t enemies. Kind of like an…appreciation. No, that wasn’t it either. More like a trauma bond.
I sat back in the crowd, shirt off and legs spread wide. I had only done one collab with That Boy, but it took off. I’d been in the music business since I was eleven years old. Right after, that happened. My ma, bless her cold, dead heart, did at least one thing right before she went tits under. She always made sure I uploaded my shit onto YouTube, even as a kid. It wasn’t hard for me to be discovered, especially once people heard my vocals.
Pushing up from my chair, I made my way to the side of the stage, picking up a stray mic and drifting in slowly. He was in the middle of our song in acapella, and no one knew I was here. It was a chill event, mainly for online audiences, but there were still some people here.
“I should have known that I didn’t need you… especially when—” I continued the song, singing through the chords I knew exactly to hit and lowering to a harmony with him toward the end.